Improvement in type-molds



UNiT-ED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

H. lV. DAY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN' TYPE-MOLDS.

Specification forming part of. Letters Patent No. 5,846, dated October 10, 1848.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARTLEY W. DAY, of

Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of of type of any desirable size, and with as much facility as by the common molds heretofore in use.

My mold can be readily adjusted with all the necessa-ry accuracy and rmness to matrices originally tted to any other mold. It has other advantages, both negative and positive, as follows: It does not require more strength to work it than'the old mold. A boy' with it may do all the casting of a large printing establishment. It is not liable to get out of order. The movable parts are held quite as strong, if not stronger, to the iixed ones than the parts held by screws in ther'old molds. When the mouth-pieces are fitted and screwed up for any particular size, a little hot metal maybe cast in behind the face parts, which on cooling will render it impossible for them to alter their positions a fraction until the screws are started, when the metal will fall out.

It requires no more skill to alter and adjust this mold for various uses than it does to keep in order the old ones. In foundries one man has all the charge of the molds, alters, xes, delivers, and receives them. A master printer would be perfectly [competent tothe care of these. It does not require any different practical knowledge to work it when fitted to any desired size, its operation being precisely the same as that of the old molds. Except by examination the same caster would not know that he was using a mold susceptible of endless changes. It is not affectedso much by wear as are the old molds. The Wear of the old molds on their sliding faces, in consequence of which the sizeof the type-body matrix is gradually producedsmallerandsmaller, so that a font of type cast in it at one time will not perfectly justify with one cast in the same mold a year or two later, cannot yaffect this mold in the least degree. Finally, the cost of manufacturing molds made like this is not much more than that for constructing the old kind; but there are positive advantages ofV more or less importance, as follows: It will be serviceable to any printer,who, at a small expensebesides that of the mold, can cast every variety of quads, lhigh and low, and borders to any extent, enabling him to do with a little ingenuity many jobswhichhe could notaccomplish without it.v

One of these molds will do all the Work which many old ones can do and much which they cannot do. So great is the accuracy re quired in type that among twenty old molds, embracing as many different sizes within a quarter of an inch, lthereV might notl be one Y' found suited to a desired size. This we are informed by one of our best founders, who says One of these molds may be kept any length l of time on the same size-for, an hour or for years. A letter-matrix belonging to any other mold can be perfectly fitted to this by the mere turn of a screw. Thus in a few moments hundreds'of said matrices belonging to another mold can be4 adapted so as to cast the type in this mold. Y

In the establishing or replenishing of `type foundries in using these molds the cost willl be as nothing or mere nothing-to thousands of dollars in the use of the old kind. A respectable foundry requires two hundredv molds,-

which cost notless than five thousand dollars. Six or ten of the universal hand type-molds, atan expense of from three hundred dollars to five hundred dollars, would cast more sizes than a thousand old ones. They would be far better for practical use.

A printer sufficiently ingenious to cut a letter on steel could with one of these molds establish a type-foundry far from the-regular source of obtaining types.

So great is the expense in establishing a foundry, type-molds being an important part, that in many instances it requires a company of individuals. With these molds a man having a comparatively small capital can establish himselfas a type-founder. The invention must then have a tendency to diminish the price of type and multiply the means of knowledge. ln this light as affecting the cause of literature and science the universal hand typej mold must be regarded as a very important and useful invention.

For every missionary station of importance this mold would be invaluable.

Of the drawings above mentioned, Figure l denotes a top view of my said improved mold, having its wooden sides or casings removed. Fig. 2 is a bottom or under side view of it. Fig. 3 is a rear end elevation of it. Fig. 4 is a front end elevation of it. Fig. v5 is an elevation of one side. Fig. 6 is an elevation of the opposite side. Fig. 7 is an elevation ofl one half or part, exhibiting its sliding face. Fig. Sis an elevation of the other halt', exhibiting its sliding face. Such other figures as may be necessary to clearly exhibit the various parts of the said mold will be hereinafter referred to and described.

The first part of my invention to be explained is that portion of the mold in which the body of the type is cast is made so as to be readily changed in size in order to adapt it to the casting of a type-body of any desired dimensions. For this purpose I make use in each half of the mold of a fixed or stationaryv plate, a, and a movable or adjustable plate, b, the said two plates being arranged at right angles to each other. One of them-viz., the plate a-has a plate, c, affixed to and extending back from it at right angles. The movable plate b is placed with its casting face in apposition with or in contact with the plate c, as seen in the drawings. It has a plate, d, extending from it at right angles, as seen in the drawings. The plate cZ has a plate, e, extended back from its upper edge and at right angles to its face, as seen in the drawings. Each of the plates Zz and e has several slots, f f f, made through it, through each of which a confiningscrew, g, is made to pass into the fixed plate c, or another fixed plate, h, made to extend back from and at right angles to the main back plate, z, as seen in the drawings. The plates a and c are both fastened to the main back plate, i.

From the above it will be seen that the planes of the parallel sliding faces of the two plates a and d of each half part of the mold may be adjusted to any required distance apart,

so that when the sliding faces of the plates a and d of the one half of the mold are placed in contact with the sliding faces of the plates a and d of the other half part of the mold the face of the plate d of one half part ofthe mold will be at a distance from the face of the plate rin the manner in which I make that part of the mold which forms the sprue of the type, or that part which is joined to the body in the operation of casting and is afterward broken therefrom.

The said manner of constructing the second part of my invention enables me not only to regulate the width of the sprue-matrix, but to adjust it so that its axis may be in a straight line with the axis of the matrix of the body of the type.

k Z in each half of the mold are two dies or plates arranged so as to have their casting planes at right angles to one another, as seen in the drawings. |They are disposed directly above the body-plates a and eZ andagainst the back plate, z'. Fig. 9 exhibits a horizontal section taken through the continingscrews of the said two dies or plates and the back plate, 'a'. In said figure it will be perceived that each of said plates has a rectangular shank or tenon, Z or m, extending back from itat right angles and through the back xed plate, i. A slot, n, is make through the shank m,and a clampingscrew, o, is made to pass'through said slot and screw into the other tenon or shank. By means of said tenons and clamping contrivances affixed to the plates lo Zof each half of the mold, the two faces p q of the plates k Z of each half part may be adjusted and fixed at their proper distance asunder in order to give any required width transversely to the matrix of the sprue. Now, in order that the plates lo Z, when so adjusted together, may be readily brought into such a position with respect to the plates a d as will bring the axis of the sprue-matrix in line with that of the matrix of the body of the type, I affix firmly to each of the back plates, i i, and at right angles to it, as seen in the drawings, a plate, 1', against which the plate Z is made to move. has a slot, t, made through it, through which a clampingscrew, s, is made to pass and screw into the plate Z. When the plates Z and k are properly adjusted to the plates a d, as before described,they may be conlinedin their proper positions by screwing up the clamp-screw s.

The next part of my invention relates particularly to the mode of adapting the mold'to The said plate on a letter-matrix bar of any ordinary width (made for any other mold) andl the proper adj ustment of the letter-matrix of said bar to the body-matrix of the mold. For this purpose I make use of two parallel movable gage-plates, u v, and a perpendicular movable stopplate, w. Each of the said plates has a sliding shank, x, extending back from it at right angles toit, as seen in the drawings, and each shank x has one or more slots, y, and confining-screws z, by which its position may be adjusted and fixed. A forcing-screw, a', is applied to the shank of the plate o, and another, b', to the plate u, as seen in the drawings, for the purpose of forcingeither or both of them transversely when necessary.

A is the spring which presses the letter-matrix bar up to its seat, as in other molds, and represented in dotted lines in Figs. 2, 4, 5, and 6. B B are the compound levers by which the letter-matrix bar is raised or moved off Vthe typeiminediately after it is founded. They do not differ from those in use in other molds.

The letter-matrix bar is not represented in the drawings, as it is similar to those used in the common hand-molds,and is used in' my improved mold in the same manner as in the old i .as specified.

2. In combination with the matrix of the body of the type, the movable gage-plates u 'o and stop-plate w, as arranged and made to operate, substantially as above set forth.`

- In testimony whereof I have hereto set my signature this 30th day of October, A. D. 1847.

H. W. DAY. rWitnesses:

R. H. EDDY,- J oHN LrsooM. 

